After finishing RID I was thinking about sitting out on the next TF cartoon, especially if it's similar. Not that RID was bad, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me whatsoever. The more I hear about this, the more it intrigues me. That's a pretty good Bee design. Maybe I'll give it a chance if it gets good reception.

Hope it isn\'t too kiddish when it comes out. Hope we get to see a tiny bit of energon blood.

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Lol, I don't mind it being kiddish, I just want it to be well-written and clever. I like TFP a lot (I've actually been getting kind of nostalgic for it recently for some reason), but I felt like it was a little too dark in places for a kids show. I would like to see a Transformers series with TFP's storytelling, but more appropriate for children.

Lol, I don't mind it being kiddish, I just want it to be well-written and clever. I like TFP a lot (I've actually been getting kind of nostalgic for it recently for some reason), but I felt like it was a little too dark in places for a kids show. I would like to see a Transformers series with TFP's storytelling, but more appropriate for children.

Sometimes that's one of the perks to doing abstract colorful/cartoony though. Serious or dark themes can pass through easier.
Like for example, when you really stop to think about it, Adventure Time is an extremely dark show. Orphan in a dystopian future where all other life has mutated from everyday objects. One of the last humans in existence. Yet it gets by because of how colorful and comedic it is that you never really stop to think about what it is conveying.

The same is true for live action, look at Fox's Orville. Orville has an entire episode dedicated to explaining how the second officer's divorce from the captain was caused pretty much by a form of date rape that an alien species had never informed humanity their species causes and makes rationalizations for(yet also still won't inform humanity as a whole or any alien interaction group of this part of their bio-chemistry), and it slides on by the censors and content advisory because of how it's approached by comedic elements and never directly named for what it is through the colorfulness(seriously, that episode had no content advisory whatsoever for how heavy it was, whereas something like MTV's Sweet/Vicious had content advisories literally every 10 minutes on the dot because it openly called out what things were instead of sidestepping the word).

Back in cartoons, Teen Titans did similar with a Raven focused episode by how Raven was deceived and taken advantage of by a spell book, which had some really dark overtones to the metaphor it was conveying. And there are hundreds of other similar cartoons that do this as well, but with how colorful their surface layer is, or the abstract art they use, no one really stops to think about the content when it's not overtly stated and is only implied or hinted at.

A lot can be done with themes and metaphors, or even bleak settings, so long as it's packaged right and never explicitly stated it is what it is. Many shows get by like this, and most even win awards for it in how they convey these complex topics in forms so that kids can grasp them or understand them as entertainment that teaches moral lessons or pushes empathy and other support aspects of what being a friend means and more.

So I really wouldn't worry about the aesthetic. As Hasbro has shown in the past. Aesthetic can be one thing, while they still do serious story telling or even bleak emotional moments and triumphant returns. The slapstick of Animated never stopped them from doing a really scary character building episode like Sentinel, Optimus, and Ariel's misadventure and how that caused Optimus to be demoted to essentially a 'space janitor.' Or really how scary animated Black Arachnia's story is. Which TFP had uber-dark with Airarchnid and Arcee, but the style made it obvious it was uber dark from the outset, which made it even more "scary" and creates that question if this is something that should be in a kid's cartoon. Yet Rodimus' team getting wiped out in Animated and people really don't think twice about it because of the colorfulness and abstract art. Or how much Animated covered Ratchet's PTSD, and Arcee's story there as well as Omega Supreme and his story/wishes.

Now that's not to say I expect non-stop dark done colorfully in Cyberverse. Those were extreme examples of how content can slide by because of colorfulness or use of an abstract aesthetic.
Aesthetic and bright colors really means nothing to content, and content is what makes or breaks a show. But I also wouldn't be surprised if there are some dark moments Bumblebee might feel after remembering if it was something he wanted to remember because of how painful they are. Like an event similar to what TFP Arcee went through with Airachnid which wouldn't be that uncommon to bots in an ages old war. So content can really vary in the show depending on what stories they want to tell. Aesthetic doesn't limit that. If anything it helps allow wider types of stories.

Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masaaki Yuasa would perhaps be the most extreme and immediate examples of what you’re getting at, @Deadend, like Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, and Kill la Kill or Kemonozume, Kaiba, and Devilman Crybaby, respectively.

I still need to get around to Imaishi’s Space Patrol Luluco, but Yuasa did direct an episode of Adventure Time. However, I didn’t see that—since AT doesn’t interest me, but Masaaki’s episode of Space Dandy was wicked.

Also, I suppose Space Dandy would be another example of a show that can be both gag heavy and frequently existential and inquisitive.

Kaiba might also be the only thing here that is remotely “kid safe,” though Luluco seems like it might be tame(r).

Sometimes that's one of the perks to doing abstract colorful/cartoony though. Serious or dark themes can pass through easier.
Like for example, when you really stop to think about it, Adventure Time is an extremely dark show. Orphan in a dystopian future where all other life has mutated from everyday objects. One of the last humans in existence. Yet it gets by because of how colorful and comedic it is that you never really stop to think about what it is conveying.

The same is true for live action, look at Fox's Orville. Orville has an entire episode dedicated to explaining how the second officer's divorce from the captain was caused pretty much by a form of date rape that an alien species had never informed humanity their species causes and makes rationalizations for(yet also still won't inform humanity as a whole or any alien interaction group of this part of their bio-chemistry), and it slides on by the censors and content advisory because of how it's approached by comedic elements and never directly named for what it is through the colorfulness(seriously, that episode had no content advisory whatsoever for how heavy it was, whereas something like MTV's Sweet/Vicious had content advisories literally every 10 minutes on the dot because it openly called out what things were instead of sidestepping the word).

Back in cartoons, Teen Titans did similar with a Raven focused episode by how Raven was deceived and taken advantage of by a spell book, which had some really dark overtones to the metaphor it was conveying. And there are hundreds of other similar cartoons that do this as well, but with how colorful their surface layer is, or the abstract art they use, no one really stops to think about the content when it's not overtly stated and is only implied or hinted at.

A lot can be done with themes and metaphors, or even bleak settings, so long as it's packaged right and never explicitly stated it is what it is. Many shows get by like this, and most even win awards for it in how they convey these complex topics in forms so that kids can grasp them or understand them as entertainment that teaches moral lessons or pushes empathy and other support aspects of what being a friend means and more.

So I really wouldn't worry about the aesthetic. As Hasbro has shown in the past. Aesthetic can be one thing, while they still do serious story telling or even bleak emotional moments and triumphant returns. The slapstick of Animated never stopped them from doing a really scary character building episode like Sentinel, Optimus, and Ariel's misadventure and how that caused Optimus to be demoted to essentially a 'space janitor.' Or really how scary animated Black Arachnia's story is. Which TFP had uber-dark with Airarchnid and Arcee, but the style made it obvious it was uber dark from the outset, which made it even more "scary" and creates that question if this is something that should be in a kid's cartoon. Yet Rodimus' team getting wiped out in Animated and people really don't think twice about it because of the colorfulness and abstract art. Or how much Animated covered Ratchet's PTSD, and Arcee's story there as well as Omega Supreme and his story/wishes.

Now that's not to say I expect non-stop dark done colorfully in Cyberverse. Those were extreme examples of how content can slide by because of colorfulness or use of an abstract aesthetic.
Aesthetic and bright colors really means nothing to content, and content is what makes or breaks a show. But I also wouldn't be surprised if there are some dark moments Bumblebee might feel after remembering if it was something he wanted to remember because of how painful they are. Like an event similar to what TFP Arcee went through with Airachnid which wouldn't be that uncommon to bots in an ages old war. So content can really vary in the show depending on what stories they want to tell. Aesthetic doesn't limit that. If anything it helps allow wider types of stories.

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Well done on getting an A on your written assignment on why TF:Animated was so great Deadend :3

Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masaaki Yuasa would perhaps be the most extreme and immediate examples of what you’re getting at, @Deadend, like Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, and Kill la Kill or Kemonozume, Kaiba, and Devilman Crybaby, respectively.

I still need to get around to Imaishi’s Space Patrol Luluco, but Yuasa did direct an episode of Adventure Time. However, I didn’t see that—since AT doesn’t interest me, but Masaaki’s episode of Space Dandy was wicked.

Also, I suppose Space Dandy would be another example of a show that can be both gag heavy and frequently existential and inquisitive.

Kaiba might also be the only thing here that is remotely “kid safe,” though Luluco seems like it might be tame(r).

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Casshern Sins, Kikaida, Cyborg 009, Panda-Z, and a whole list of more. Even Crayon-ShinChan. And there's an adaptation of Count of Monte Cristo that did some animation style tests too in how it did solid colors. But those are japanese animation where wider styles are the norm. Anime doesn't really have any singular set style. It varies as widely as American animation and other areas. People tend to pigeon-hole it into one set standard but it really doesn't have that.

But that's a whole other issue in people's perceptions. Like how the word "cartoon" really only means satirical and does not denote area of origin. Anime denotes area of origin/intended audience region. All are forms of animation. Animation is simply an artform/medium of visual motion media conveyance. Really has no set age boundaries, only depends on intended audience demographics. So an anime can be a cartoon. All it means is that it's satire with an Asian region intended audience. But something like GI Joe Sigma 6 isn't really an anime, as it was outsourced to a Japanese studio but was solely intended for American audiences and never had an Asian region release. Same as how JG1 is anime, but original G1 isn't. But globally released shows also get more complicated in that regard where you have to look at "initially intended audience" before they went worldwide.

Too many look at it and think otherwise. But thankfully views have started to shift more into understanding the broader scopes. Though the word "anime" and "cartoon" are still often used wrong. But I digress. Progress moves in baby steps.

(*Disclaimer* Do not confuse this for other languages use of the word "anime". In Japanese, all animation is anime. In English speaking predominate countries, we use foreign words to denote area of origin/intended audience demographic. So this word usage does not pertain to foreign languages and how they translate things. Same as how much American/Canadian/UK scifi would be considered Tokusatsu in Japan. Whereas we use that term in English for Asian region live action superheroes/effects heavy shows. Mostly in reference of Sentai/Kamen Rider/Godzilla/Ultraman, but does also include such things like Shibuya 15, Keitai Sosakan 7, Sukeban Deka, and others. So in English, those would be their respective genres and then subgenre of Tokusatsu to denote effects heavy Asian region foreign show. Or swapping that if you go by region before genre. Generally Tokusatsu is Scifi or Occult, but there are things like Sukeban Deka where it's a detective show but her use of the yoyo and other dramatic effects constitute it still as a tokusatsu.)

My views is that animation is animation. Don't care where it's from so long as it's good and fun to watch. I enjoy all uses of the motion arts as a means to convey fiction.

As for Bumblebee's designs, that'd actually make a pretty good simplified generations style transformation.
Shoulders sweep forward for the car hood. Allowing the arms to fold into the sides of the torso. Then the legs should fold up to be the rear of the car with the knees as the tail lights. Kind of like how Universe 2.0 Sunstreaker/Sideswipe do on their legs. Then it's only a question on if the torso fold rotates, or if the shoulders sweep to under the torso roof top chest. So it could be done with a waist hinge, or have a flip inner torso by a shoulder/side body bars with peg.

Either way, I'd love to see a better more accurate take on the Deluxe mold for Bumblebee. It has a much better Animated Bee all grown up feel to it than RID Bee did.

Hot Shot is looking spiffy too!

Also didn't realize Boulder was behind so many of those. That's awesome. They do some really great work.

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His tires are on the inside of the calves so I'm assuming thigh twist maybe?

And yes, that design looks really good. The style is somewhere in between Animated and RiD15. Not so exaggerated but not so simple either, a nice happy medium.

Edit: And I'm so glad that he has a far more Bee-ish head than RiD did. I liked the design except for that head in that toon.

I was getting at the fact that you can have a bright and colorful cartoon that is also “mature” in the most extreme sense possible, @Deadend

I will also grant that I’m mostly just prattling on about the breadth and pteontional of animation, and not necessarily asking for Bumblebee to be on a Memento like journey to recover his memories

Now, I haven’t seen any of Rick and Morty or the recent seasons of Venture Bros, but there’s a couple Stateside examples more in line with Imaishi in his Go Nagai like ecchi/sexploitation spirit, perhaps, while Yuasa probably takes more from Francobelge comics titan Les Humanoïdes Associés, particularly Heavy Metal comics sage Jean “Moebius” Giraud or his occasional collaborator and French Animator René Laloux.

And, just in comparing alike styles with pretty different content, there’s Osamu Tezuka’s Walt Disney like influence from which we get Cybrog 009 and Rintaro’s Metropolis, for examples.

But, while we’re having this walk down mecha memory lane, I’ve also been thinking about Casshern Sins, specifically in light of Westworld and it’s malfunctioning androids. I also kinda accept that that show probably takes place in South East Asia, but I would be wildly excited to know that it’s set either in a Lagrange Point, like Gundam, or in a solar system that’s been reprocessed into a Dyson Sphere, like in Tsutomu Nihei’s “Blame!” franchise.

I was getting at the fact that you can have a bright and colorful cartoon that is also “mature” in the most extreme sense possible, @Deadend

I will also grant that I’m mostly just prattling on about the breadth and pteontional of animation, and not necessarily asking for Bumblebee to be on a Memento like journey to recover his memories

Now, I haven’t seen any of Rick and Morty or the recent seasons of Venture Bros, but there’s a couple Stateside examples more in line with Imaishi in his Go Nagai like ecchi/sexploitation spirit, perhaps, while Yuasa probably takes more from Francobelge comics titan Les Humanoïdes Associés, particularly Heavy Metal comics sage Jean “Moebius” Giraud or his occasional collaborator and French Animator René Laloux.

And, just in comparing alike styles with pretty different content, there’s Osamu Tezuka’s Walt Disney like influence from which we get Cybrog 009 and Rintaro’s Metropolis, for examples.

But, while we’re having this walk down mecha memory lane, I’ve also been thinking about Casshern Sins, specifically in light of Westworld and it’s malfunctioning androids. I also kinda accept that that show probably takes place in South East Asia, but I would be wildly excited to know that it’s set either in a Lagrange Point, like Gundam, or in a solar system that’s been reprocessed into a Dyson Sphere, like in Tsutomu Nihei’s “Blame!” franchise.

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Some story concepts tend to spiral into a succession of inspired by/enhanced by/re-inspired by.
Like WestWorld is based on a 70s movie, same as Casshern is from a 70s anime. And when you look at writers today and what they're exposed to literature entertainment-wise, there's a kind of domino effect. (Like how Casshern helped inspire Megaman/Megaman X.)

This happens in tech too. Where fiction gives way to inspiration for tech of tomorrow. The kids of then that ingested that material are the writers and inventors of today, same as the kids of today ingesting current material are the writers/creators and inventors of tomorrow. It's the nature of creative works to inspire that then contribute to how the next generation takes those concepts even further.

That's one of the beauties to the arts. It impacts everything for decades to come, not only the creative arts itself. Like how 90s anime gave way to things like Avatar and Korra or Oban Star Racers, and how Tron gave way to Reboot which gave way to Tron Legacy and Code Lyoko which gave way to Reboot: Guardian Code. Nothing is created in a vacuum, everything has some form of catalyst that made it evolve into existence sometimes something small, sometimes something big. Like how even West World/Future World were inspired by other scifi and animatronic theme park rides, which then gave rise the current phenom of the modern west world show that takes it steps even further.

Same is true for Sentai and how it led to the creation of GoLion, that then became Voltron and now the hit Netflix series. Creative works/ideas are like snowballs. You roll them down the hill and they pick up more snow and keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger as more expansions happen.

The creative arts are awesome like that.

We see it happen in the toy industry too. From product lines to similar product lines to later products inspired by product lines. How the action figure market essentially evolved from a girl's doll, to how Transformers evolved from essentially the toy vehicles you'd play with, and how everything draws inspirations from each other to look for the next big thing. Like spring loaded transforming bakugans as how they evolved from the popularity of Yugioh and Transformers. Or Beyblade as spinning top toys taken to the next level, or B-Daman as literally the enhancement of Marbles.

Even the evolution of brick built lines from the classic no IP lego figure to full franchises and games, and the Mega Construx hyper articulated or Kreons, and who knows what evolution is next there even as more and more new things are experimented with like the Pokemon built critter figures.

The creative worlds are really cool like that in how they all inspire each other, grow, and inspire more. Whether it's tv, film, movies, video games, tech, or toys across all methods of conveyance.

Though Go Nagai has yet to really be used in Venture Bros or Rick & Morty. They draw on other material mostly instead, some of which of that was inspired by Nagai. But no direct homages as yet. Cutie Honey and Devilman are likely for both eventually though.